Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: National forest land

Lake Creek 08/18/2024 Photo Album

Note: In order to protect small high country streams, I have chosen to change the name for a few. This particular creek happens to be one of them. Excessive exposure could lead to crowding and lower fish densities.

Low and Clear

I arrived at the trailhead parking lot on Sunday, August 18, 2024, and a couple was preparing to fish. I asked how far they expected to hike, and they responded “about two miles”. They inquired about my intentions, and I replied one mile, so I concluded we had decent separation. The temperature was 66 degrees at the car, but by the afternoon, the thermometer spiked to 80 degrees. I chose my Loomis two piece five weight, because I love the slow action for casting dries, the shorter length for the tight quarters of small streams, and the simplicity of fitting together two sections.

Early Fish

When I arrived at the edge of the creek, I extended my leader with a section of 5X, and I knotted a peacock hippie stomper to my line. I prospected the stomper for twenty minutes with no response, before I added a salvation nymph on a 2.5 foot dropper. The fish continued their obstinance, until I took my lunch break at noon. I covered some very attractive pools, pockets, and runs, and one refusal from a small fish was my only action. What was going on?

Nice Little Package

During lunch a green drake perched on a rock next to me, and I almost dumped my sandwich in an effort to snap a photo. Of course, it flew away, before I could ready the camera. After lunch I decided to go deep with a dry/dropper approach. I was not seeing looks or refusals to the surface fly, so I theorized the fish were hugging bottom in the deep and attractive pools. The flows were quite strong for mid-August probably resulting from the recent spike in rain in the area. I opted for a tan pool toy hopper, prince nymph, and hares ear nymph, and the ploy paid dividends, when I netted one small brown trout on the prince and two on the hares ear. These were unimpressive fish barely over six inches, but at this stage I was pleased with any action.

Nice Little Seam Along Main Current

The initial outburst of nymph response ended, and a lull ensued, so I made yet another change. After spotting a solitary green drake at lunch, I tried a parachute green drake. It attracted attention, but only one twelve inch brown closed the deal and ate it. I added a size 16 olive body deer hair caddis on a double dry configuration, and the caddis duped a couple browns from obscure lies next to the bank.

Love the Dark Shadows

Again futility ruled, so I cycled through more change. I replaced the caddis with a user friendly green drake, but the double green drake combo never clicked. Finally in desperation I added a size 14 olive-green stimulator as the second fly behind the parachute green drake. This move finally paid off with a bit more consistency, and I boosted the fish count from six to twelve. The trout grabbed both flies, but the stimulator seemed to be preferred.

Coiled

At some point the hackle on the parachute became shredded, so I shifted to a double dry including an olive stimulator as the first fly and a Harrop hair-wing green drake as the trailer. This final combination yielded four additional trout, until an abraded knot caused me to lose both flies. I replaced them with a size 14 gray stimulator, but I only tossed it for fifteen minutes, until my watch displayed 4PM, so I quit and hiked back to the parking lot.

A Trout Emerged from Beneath the Bank

Sixteen fish sounds decent, but it was a tough day on Lake Creek. I executed numerous fly changes and waded a decent distance. Four brown trout in the eleven to twelve inch range were the best, with all the remainder in the six to nine inch length. The obvious attractive pools failed to yield fish. My best locales were moderate depth riffles and obscure lies tight to rocks or the bank. I hooked a couple fish that may have been larger, but they succeeded in evading the hook rather quickly. I will likely not return to Lake Creek in 2024, as better options exist.

Fish Landed: 16